Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Reaching Angelica by Peter Riva & author Guest Post

One of the elements in the Tag series is humor – humor that I feel needs to pepper the reality they are all going through. Of course, it helps that Simon Bank is a reluctant hero who never takes himself too seriously (he does think he can save the day – such ego! – but usually comes to realize that mistake).

In the Tag series book Two I introduce my favorite character, Zip the dog. I won’t spoil it, but Zip usually has the most on-target dialogue. And certainly he does not suffer fools lightly, especially our “hero.” Cramer, on the other hand, has a heart of gold mixed with steel, so Zip understands the pecking order pretty well. But who is in charge? Cramer comes to realize he doesn’t need to be, he just has to be useful for who he is. But Zip always knew that beforehand, of course.

And of course I introduce sex but only insofar as the reader needs to know it is possible and, especially in Bank’s case, with some consternation as he is somewhat surprised that anyone should want to (he’s not quite an adult yet – mentally, sure, but a teen body he’s not used to). And that makes a funny moment when Simon pushed Aten and Cramer together in the shower room, ahem… ‘nuff said.

One of the things in Reaching Angelica is that the book skates around the question of God or a Creator. I say skates around but that’s perhaps not really true. Like many primitive Earth cultures, the notion of a creator is an Entity or Entities that basically can mold time/space as they want. To that I add dimension(s) and minions (in the form of Gaia) – is this God? Could this be a dissection of religion? I think not as the brush stroke is too non-specific and meant to be. My goal was not to dissuade anyone’s belief, but to open up the infinite as every religion is built upon.

About the author:

Peter Riva has worked for more than thirty years with the leaders in aerospace and space exploration. His daytime job for more than forty years has been as a literary agent. He resides in New York City.

In a massive spaceship destined for Alpha Centauri B, with a genesis crew including Zip the telepathic dog, his old friendly nemesis Cramer, and a computer being name Ra (now inhabiting a human form and calling herself Aten), Simon Bank emerges from a hundred-year coma and is hailed as an awakened hero. Stuck with unwanted responsibility, he is forced to try and solve the entire enigma of the universe—a small undertaking—before the spaceship, his friends, and all life on Earth are swatted out of existence by super beings he has accidentally awakened.

Simon’s only hope is to plunge into other dimensions with his mind—into the secrets of the universe’s pan-dimensions—as only he knows how. The fate of all life hangs in the balance as he struggles to prove himself worthy of the Path and the absolute trust his friends place in him. Simon knows all too well that if he fails there is no hope—none at all—for anyone and that includes his best friend, an artificial intelligence computer called Apollo, which he sadly left behind. Besides, Zip would not be pleased, either.

For fans of cyberpunk and classic science fiction, Reaching Angelica is the second book in Peter Riva’s Tag series, the comic, thrilling, and continuing saga of Simon Bank—ex–master system computer wrangler and very unlikely savior of the universe.

My Review:

With REACHING ANGELICA, Riva returns to the world of THE PATH with the same flair that we’ve come to expect from him. This fast paced novel was well-developed and written. I enjoyed the mix of mythology with reality and science fiction. All together it created a whole that kept me on my toes while keeping my imagination completely engaged.

Vibrant characters fill this out of this world tale. They were a blast to get to know. Both returning and new characters were well developed allowing readers to enter the series here or to engage with them as they return to the world that Riva has created.

This was a fun & engaging story. Riva kept the pace up from page to page as the characters capture your heart.